No-Conscription Fellowship

The No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF) was arguably the most important of the anti-war movement's organisations. From the very beginning of the war there were those who felt that it was unlikely the British war effort would be sustained by an entirely volunteer army and that conscription would soon replace voluntarism. Co-ordinating opposition to conscription and supporting potential COs began as an idea launched by Fenner Brockway. At the outbreak of war he was editor of the Independent Labour Party's newspaper, the Labour Leader. In November 1914, he published an appeal inviting all young men who intended to refuse military service to join a 'No-Conscription Fellowship'. The response was encouraging. By February 1915 the NCF had 339 members and the names of a number of men beyond military service age who were prepared to help. Originally organised by Fenner Brockway and his wife Lilla from their house in Derbyshire, the flow of new members and its developing work prompted the opening of a head office in London later that summer and by the autumn of 1915 it had been organised on a national basis. From then until the early months of 1920 it worked to organise opposition to the war and to support COs.This collection of NCF material contains:NCF National Committee material;Letters and circulars from NCF Headquarters to local branches, 1917 - 1920;NCF Publications, 1914 - 1919;The Tribunal, 1916 - 1920;Conscientious Objector Information Bureau (COIB) Reports, 1916 - 1919;NCF branch records including Hyde, Cheshire and the Manchester region as well as those of Willesden, Middlesex (now Greater London).